Wednesday, 28 September 2016

LUDD'S MILL: THE FIRST ISSUE

LUDD'S MILL:

THE FIRST ISSUE

For those who care about such things as historical accuracy, no, I was not remotely involved in the first issue of 'Ludd's Mill'. As the editorial explains, it sprang out of a collective - which was the cool thing to do in 1971, orbiting around a series of live readings in Huddersfield under the 'Inner Circle' banner. Because he'd had previous experience, editing 'Riding West' magazine, Steve Sneyd assumed more of the responsibility for the finished product than its supposed co-operative nature would seem to indicate. Some of the contributors here would never be seen again…

Unlike later issues, the first incarnation of 'Ludd's Mill' is mimeographed, which leads to poor and spotty reproduction…

Apart from the cover-art, there's no illustrations - and visuals were to become a vitally important aspect of future issues…

In keeping with the counter-culture ethos of the time, 'Ludd's Mill' was intended to be street-sold and busked at live events locally, it was art news-bulletins of what was happening strictly at the moment, with no aspirations to posterity…

I was not involved. I was still in Barnsley with the 'Styng' underground tabloid newspaper, and the 'Sad Traffic' arts magazine from which it had grown. But I was starting to poke around interesting events, and this issue of 'Ludd's Mill' found its way onto the exchange/reviews pile scattered across the floor. And I make contact…

Yes, some of the stuff here is very much of its time, and maybe apologies are due. But there's also startlingly good material here that deserves to be preserved, and re-read (if you can't decipher it, individual pages can be blown up into legibility)… and how come there are eleven pages? Well - page two was blank, to allow for the cover-art…!

'Religion is a real danger to the survival of civilisation... it will be the death of us all, the end of humanity' - Christopher Hitchens

'Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover...' - Mark Twain